Author's Blog

 July 31, 2010

Blaze to Stay in California League


Team announces a return to Bakersfield for the 2009 season.


Thursday, August 28, 2008

All rumors of the Bakersfield Blaze moving to the Carolina League after this season can come to an end.  The team announced late Wednesday that they will play the 2009 season in Sam Lynn Park.  While no announcement has been made by the High Desert Mavericks, also rumored to me moving the to Carolina League, the Blaze announcement likely means the Mavericks will also be playing their 2009 season in Adelanto.

An August 1 story first reported by Baseball America suggested that the Bakersfield Blaze and the High Desert Mavericks would likely be moving to the Carolina League after the 2008 season, with the Mavericks moving to Richmond and the Blaze moving to Fayatteville, North Carolina.  A flurry of newspaper reports followed suit, although a number of media outlets suggested such a move was unlikely (including this one).

While the Blaze announcement resolves the 2009, and most likely 2010 seasons, the discussions are likely to resurface, especially in 2010.  The High Desert Mavericks and the City of Adelanto have already shown signs of bitterness over a plan by the city to raise rents for Mavericks Stadium after the current lease expires in 2010 and the team's requested $3.5 million plus in stadium improvements.  Meanwhile, the City of Bakersfield has given no indication that they will follow through on previous promises to make improvements to Sam Lynn or to build a new stadium to keep the team there on a long term basis.  The Bakersfield California has reported that Blaze owner D.G. Elmore has called 2009 "one last hurrah" for Bakersfield, and that the team will move if improvements aren't made.  The article also pointed to a possible Double A team moving to Richmond (to replace the exiting Richmond Braves) as a major reason why any plans to move Bakersfield to the East Coast after this season have ended.  "The Carolina League just wasn't ready yet," Elmore is reported to have told the Californian.

While Bakersfield may be threatening to exit the California League after the 2009 season, the question is to "where" and "with whom."  If indeed Richmond is unavailable, and as reported by the Fayatteville Observer, Fayetteville's stadium is unavailable, its unlikely the Carolina League would be ready after the 2009 season.  Also, the Carolina League would need to expand by two teams, while the California League would need to lose two teams to make it work.  With five teams in the California League currently looking to renew affiliations after the 2008 season, and the Mavericks in a lease through the 2010 season, there might not be a team that wants to move or that has an affiliation with a Major League team that will let them.


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